Growing up in Oakville, Ont., Christian Purboo, ArtSci ’25, never thought much about race when playing hockey. As a young goaltender, he was more focused on stopping pucks, not the fact he was often the only Black player on the ice. It wasn’t until high school he began to understand the barriers that made hockey inaccessible to so many kids who looked like him.
As of 2019, less than five per cent of the National Hockey League (NHL) is comprised of Black athletes. In Purboo’s 2016 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft class, only one Black player, Akim Aliu, was selected in the first round. Despite this, Purboo wasn’t actively looking for representation when he was younger—he was just a kid who wanted to play the game his friends loved.
“We started with soccer and basketball, and then once I got to school, all my friends played hockey, so I asked my parents to try that out,” Purboo said in an interview with The Journal.
“Summer was kind of a decision, ‘are we gonna keep going with this?’ and my dad was travelling a lot through the year, so we decided no summer sports, and he actually kind of liked that we played hockey, cause my family’s never really done it before,” he added.
At first, hockey was simply about fun. His parents encouraged him to enjoy the sport without worrying about anything else. Conversations about race weren’t part of their early discussions.
“My parents didn’t really talk about that stuff [race] until high school. They just wanted me to enjoy the sport. Obviously, I did recognize I was the only Black kid, but I don’t think it’s really all about that, I think I was just having a lot of fun like they wanted me to have,” Purboo shared.
Once high school hit, Purboo became aware of many of the barriers that have traditionally kept Black children away from the sport.
“Once I got to high school, they [his parents] wanted me to realize just how blessed I am,” Purboo said. “It’s all about disposable income, and a lot of Black families don’t have that disposable income to put their kids into all these sports like hockey or basketball, they’re only focused on the vital things, like putting food on the table, housing, and all that stuff.”
Beyond cost, geography presents another challenge, which Purboo noted.
“A lot of areas where Black families live, there aren’t those facilities where you can play hockey. If you want to go to these facilities, they’ll have to travel like an hour or two hours away, and that’s gonna be like five-six times a week. Not only is it expensive, but it’s gonna be really tiring.”
As it stands, Purboo and Sam Marburg, ArtSci ’27, are the only Black men on the Queen’s Hockey team. Accessibility and inclusivity aren’t something that can change overnight, and Purboo recognizes that. However, the sport is taking steps in the right direction.
“It’s definitely changing. I think there are three or four Black kids projected to go in the first round, which I don’t think has ever really happened before, so I think it’s great. I really hope in the future, people will see more visual representations of their people on the big stage, like in the NHL,” Purboo said.
For hockey’s next generation, Purboo has one message, “Just have fun; don’t focus on the race aspect as much. Obviously, realize who you are and what you are, but definitely just focus on having fun and putting in the work and then, like, make sure that once you get to that next level, you help other kids and other people grow around you.”
An example of a Queen’s athlete who is currently making strides to help make hockey more accessible is alumnus Jaden Lindo, ArtSci ’21.
A 2014 NHL draft pick, Lindo helped lead the Gaels to an OUA championship in 2019. Now, he’s the manager of various community hockey programs for the Pittsburgh Penguins, running initiatives like the Willie O’Ree Academy, which offers resources to Black children who are looking to get into hockey.
Although there’s still a long way to go, athletes like Purboo and Lindo prove that change is happening. The next generation will have more role models, more opportunities, and hopefully, fewer barriers to overcome.
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black history month, Christian Purboo, hockey U sports
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